


Bump, Fall in Love

by jaeseoksoo



Series: Sheith October Fest [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ficlet, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, this series is drowning in tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 03:49:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16256060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeseoksoo/pseuds/jaeseoksoo
Summary: Keith doesn't believe in soul mates yet he meets his by accident at the local art gallery. To make things worse, he has it bad and falls in love at first sight.





	Bump, Fall in Love

**Author's Note:**

> Day 9 of the SOFT project. 
> 
> Also, this is just artist!Keith waxing poetic about how he's head over heels for Shiro from the get-go. This is an AU though squinting at 1:03 am makes me doubt that it is. Sometimes.

They say finding your soul mate isn’t as easy as you think. If you believe that your soul mate is set at birth, recognizable once you laid eyes on them and roughly in the same age bracket, then mathematically, your chances of finding them is one in ten thousand or a measly 0.010 percent. And they say when you do, you’ll know and feel it deep in your heart, in your bones, in the entire fiber of your being.

 

Keith finds it so troublesome.

 

Keith doesn’t subscribe to the concept of soul mates nor does he depend on the mathematical probability of anything as a possible compass, a guide on how to live his life and who to love in his life.

 

Keith doesn’t believe in love at first sight. He also doesn’t believe chance encounters could lead into anything more meaningful or promising than what they are, random encounters with strangers.

 

Yet here Keith is in Tomigaya, sitting on a couch in Fuglen as he waits for a Takashi Shirogane to show up on what’s supposed to be their third date. How he got to be here is a story he would like to reminisce another time because he’s still so embarrassed to even think about it but since he has an hour to burn before his and Shiro’s agreed upon meeting time and nothing else better to do, he does just that.

 

* * *

 

Six months ago, Keith bumps into Shiro while he was casually visiting one of the contemporary art galleries in Toshima-ku. He’s there on a whim and his mom told him to visit one of the galleries in town for inspiration. And why does Keith need inspiration? Because he’s an artist, and a dumb one at that for telling his mother he was in an artistic slump because in a dramatic turn of events, his art muse eloped with his best friend and he couldn’t be bothered to imagine a new female (or male, he isn’t concerned with that, really) in his head to draw inspiration from.

 

And that’s how Keith’s found himself on his third contemporary gallery visit. He’s completely engrossed and in the middle of examining an oil-on-canvas painting depicting grotesque nightmarish scenes when someone bumps into him hard from behind. He almost topples forward to embarrassingly face plant against the canvas, if not for the strong arm looped across his stomach, keeping him from completely losing his balance.

 

Keith turns around and is about to lash out to the offensive hulk of a human being for being so careless in a sacred space of art but his outburst is cut short as his eyes land upon the face and body of possibly the most gorgeous specimen of man in the whole planet (or probably the whole universe, if Keith had a say on these things).

From Extremely Annoyed, Keith’s strong feelings warp into Mildly Inconvenienced and Possibly Peaked Curiosity instead as the beautiful, oh so beautiful man begins to bow in apology before his eyes land on Keith’s.

 

Keith doesn’t really subscribe to dramas with cheesy plot lines but up to this day, he swears a spark of surprise and _something else_ passed through the other man’s eyes before he hid his expression and all Keith can make out was an expression of apology on his face.

 

Frankly, it makes Keith a bit weak in the knees.

 

“I’m Shiro—I mean, I’m sorry,” says the flustered man—Shiro—which Keith finds extremely amusing or smart because that was the epitome of _smooth_. And Keith, unfortunately, has a weak spot for people who may or may not possibly be using smooth moves to woo his gullible heart.

 

“And I’m Keith.” Keith chuckles, extending his hand before realizing that Shiro didn’t extend his own and is probably not going to take Keith’s any time soon. He tries to take it back before he further embarrasses himself in front of god’s artwork, this beautiful man named Shiro but Shiro gives a genuinely warm smile (which does not thaw Keith’s ice heart, thank you very much) as he extends both his arms, natural and—‘wow, is that a fully-functional prosthetics?’ Keith internally screams to himself—prosthetics one.

 

Shiro’s handshake is firm and welcoming but all Keith could focus on those long five seconds was Shiro’s stormy grey eyes, eyes he thinks he can get lost in even as Shiro apologizes again for bumping into Keith like that and tells him that he would like to apologize properly over a cup of coffee and is Keith amenable to that?

 

“What,” Keith replies, brain running in Pentium II after hearing what seemed to be an offer for a date (but Keith doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. But he also wants to hope.)

 

“Coffee? With me?... My treat?” Shiro asks shyly, adding the last part as though that would entice Keith more to go with him when Shiro’s lopsided smile alone is enough to tug at Keith’s heartstrings and lure him to wherever Shiro wants to go.

 

And of course, Keith says yes to that because how could he say no when the sun in human form chooses to shine bright on you when it could’ve shone on something else, someone else who isn’t a sad artist boy named Keith.

 

* * *

 

 

Sitting on the comfortable couch in Fuglen, thinking back on that weird day when Keith met Shiro, Keith can’t believe how, of all people to bump into in Toshima-ku, Tokyo, it would be a man like Takashi Shirogane, a man who Keith, apparently, has no qualms gravitating towards. No brakes, all logic and reason possibly thrown out the window? And this is just all because his body, his mind, and probably the universe at large are screaming simultaneously inside his head, telling him that without doubt and question, this here is his soul mate and the bull shit that is love at first sight actually applies to him.

 

Keith looks up as the little bells on the café door jingle to announce the entrance of a customer. He turns his gaze towards the counter and sees the back of Shiro as he orders for his and Keith’s favorite drink.

 

Minutes later, Shiro turns from the counter and sees Keith slouching on the couch. The smile he sends Keith’s way is so achingly soft and sweet, Keith wouldn’t feel any different if he dissolved against the couch and became one with it from the sheer warmth and affection he feels blossoming deep inside him.

 

Keith smiles back as Shiro joins him on his comfortable spot on the couch. Keith wonders how today’s just their third date yet he already feels as though he’s known Shiro far longer than that. It’s endearing on some level and Keith thinks, if this is what having a soul mate feels like, with his own heart and soul singing with joy every time Shiro is close by, then Keith wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I said I'd do the whole 30-day writing but I may have to raise my white flag and just update in intervals because I'm missing too much sleep and it's drastically affecting my performance at work. 
> 
> I'll still be posting until day 30? but it's going to be sporadic updates from hereon out. Unless, I get stubborn and keep staying up late, regardless. Who knows. 
> 
> As always, thank you for commenting and for leaving nice words. They mean a lot to me. ;)
> 
> \- Jae (@sheitheist/jaeseoksoo on twitter)


End file.
